


A Helping Hand

by SerasKucheki



Series: Canon-Divergent Harringrove (No Mind Flayed Billy) [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy ignores feelings, Fix-It, Graphic violence mainly because of a Demodog death, M/M, Quick plot with no actual relationship, Screw the ending of season 3, canon-divergent, very self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerasKucheki/pseuds/SerasKucheki
Summary: What if the Mind Flayer attacked Billy in season 2 instead of season 3 and with a Demodog? And instead of him being badly injured and used by the Mind Flayer someone with a bat full of nails keeps him safe?
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Series: Canon-Divergent Harringrove (No Mind Flayed Billy) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1754947
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	A Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know how well this turned out but I really just needed a self indulgent fix it fic to help me ignore how Billy's future potential was thrown out the window. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Steve Harrington hoped that after he finally got over his small bout of insomnia and nightmares that he wouldn’t have to worry about monsters, upside down, a girl with super powers or anything else going on in the Hawkins Lab. However, while he was going to apologize to Nancy, Dustin demanded his help and that’s how he ended up nearly being killed by a pack of smaller Demogorgons as he protected the three kids that were with him. It was a lot easier this time around to step up and do the right thing. As much as these kids tried to act like heroes they were still just kids. That’s why when he got in between Max and one of the monsters to only have it turn around and leave with the pack he knew something was wrong. Steve didn’t even think twice when he declared they had to go find out where they were headed, he just knew that if they found trouble, then anyone else in the group was most likely involved. The more he spoke with Dustin that day the more he realized that things were definitely done between Nancy and him and yet, if she was in trouble he still wanted to make sure she was safe. That’s why he was so focused on finding out where they went and glad the kids came with so he could make sure they were safe as well.

On the way there, he heard the distant sounds of tires screeching and a loud sound of a car crashing. Steve took a few steps to the side as Dustin and Lucas’ argument began to get louder and more obnoxious than it already was to begin with when they started ten minutes ago. He didn’t hear anything else and even though it was a slight detour compared to where the Demogorgons went he felt like he should investigate it before continuing on. “Guys.” he tried interrupting Dustin and Lucas who ignored him. Steve rolled his eyes and turned back to them. “Guys!” he snapped at them, finally gaining their attention. “We need to check on something first.” he stated, not explaining what he heard and just began walking.

”Steve? What’s going on?” asked Dustin hurriedly following behind him because his relationship with Steve changed drastically when he was the only one around who could help him with Dart and has definitely proven that he’s the type of person you want in a pinch.

”I heard a car crash in the distance. Anyone around this area could have come across one of those things and they’ll need help.” he pointed out to Dustin.

”Demodog.” piped up Dustin.

Steve glanced at him for a few seconds, “What dog?”

”It’s a Demogorgon that’s a dog so naturally it’s a Demodog.” explained Dustin not understanding how Steve didn’t immediately get it when he first decided to name them. Steve raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off as he focused on heading toward where he heard the sound.

Lucas swung his backpack around to take out his wrist rocket, not going to risk heading toward what could be several of them without a weapon ready. “Hopefully whoever it is they haven’t been killed already.” pointed out Lucas knowing there were only a handful of people who knew about the Upside Down and that other people in Hawkins they didn’t know about everything had been hurt and killed.

Max still thought it was crazy that they just kept heading toward the danger and tried grabbing at Lucas’ arm. “This is insane, you know that right?” she asked hoping somebody else would agree with her.

”It is but it’s better than sitting back and doing nothing. Every one of us is in danger if we don’t do anything, even the people we care about that don’t know what’s going on. What if it was your mom down there?” he asked her knowing it was a hard and rude question but it was the truth. Their whole group cared so much for each other that they were fine with risking a bit of danger to make sure that they could all come out alive.

”Obviously I’d want to help her.” she snapped at Lucas not having too much venom in her voice because she could see what he was getting at. Max sighed heavily looking around the forest and at least trying to listen for those monsters. “I wouldn’t leave you guys right now anyway.”

Lucas smiled widely at that, “I figured you wouldn’t, Mad Max.” Max rolled her eyes trying not to show how much she liked that Lucas was glad she was there with them since Mike wasn’t too thrilled about her joining the group.

Steve ignored everything they said for the most part until they finally got out of the forest and he saw a road, a plant ridden old building that definitely hadn’t been in use for years now and a car pulled over in front of it. The light made it difficult to tell what exactly happened or what kind of car was there but he knew someone was done there, the headlights were dim, but done. He tried to look around the surrounding area for any signs of the monsters...Demodogs. “Just, stay behind me.” he told the kids as they began to cross the road.

When they began to get close enough to the car Max recognized it immediately. “It’s Billy’s car.” she stated knowing that with how much of an asshole he could be, she still didn’t like seeing him hurt. Hated it when Neil got into him and wished there was something she could actually do but even so, he didn’t deserve to be attacked by those monsters. Max tried to go around Steve who put out his arm to stop her. “Steve-”

”Stay, behind me.” he demanded, raising his bat as he slowly approached the car keeping an eye out around him. Steve could see the damage done to the car, how the windshield was broken and that the engine wasn’t even running. “Fuck, where did he go?”

The last thing Billy expected when he was getting ready for his date that night was to be interrupted by Neil who forced him to leave to go find Max. Billy didn’t blame her for acting out but he could definitely blame her for ruining his night. He even had to go on a hunt going from one house to another to figure out where the kids could be found. Before when Max made a friend and they caused trouble it was just one friend, simple and easy to find, not this time around. So yeah, having to go on a hunt just added onto the stress of being yelled at by Neil. He was brought out of his thoughts when a flash of a shadow, sound of cracking glass and a quick swerve sent his car off the road and alongside a bush. Billy closed his eyes tightly as he touched his forehead, feeling the blood and the beginning of a splitting headache as his mind tried to catch up with what happened. The hissing of smoke finally forced his eyes open and that’s when he began to take in all the damage to his car. “No...no.” he said looking over the radio and dash not seeing anything working. “Piece of shit!” he snapped slamming his hand on the steering wheel.

Out of everything that could have happened to make his night worse, this was definitely the icing on the ‘Fuck My Life’ cake. Billy got out of the car trying to stay hopeful that he didn’t just total his car and zeroed in on the windshield as the memory of the shadow came back to him. It definitely wasn’t a human and as he leaned over to touch the substance left on the windshield his face scrunched up. “What the hell?” he asked softly, having no idea what could have hit him. No animal or human could have hit a car windshield, cracking it to this extent without leaving blood and whatever this was, left mucus? A rustling behind him made his heart skip as he turned around trying to spot what made the sound. “Who’s there?!” he yelled not going to back down or show any fear because at this point, he was just too pissed off with how his night had turned out that he needed an outlet for his anger.

”I said, who’s there?!” he challenged again and a Demodog jumped up onto the car. Billy turned back around ready to take it on before the face opened up and screeched at him. The shock made him fall back on his ass but as the monster jumped down in front of him he kicked out knocking its head to the side. He took that extra second to get back up on his feet and run toward the building keeping an eye out for anything he could use as a weapon. Just as he got inside of the building the Demodog jumped him knocking him to the ground. Billy ignored the weight on his back frantically searching the area close to him and saw a pipe just to the side. The Demodog dug its claws into his back as his hand reached out for the pipe. He grunted in pain as his fingers brushed the pipe nearly pushing it too far away from him. The monster growled leaning down close to Billy’s head as its mouth opened up. Billy noticed saliva falling right in his field of vision as his fingers finally wrapped around the pipe and he swung it back hitting the Demodog in the head, knocking it off his back. He ignored the pain in his back as he got to his feet as quickly as possible and turned to face the Demodog. The monster stood up on its feet and screeched at Billy. “Come on you fucker.” he glared at it readying the pipe hoping that he could knock it out with the next blow so he could figure out what was wrong with his car and get the fuck out of there. His heart was pounding and he was doing his best not to let the fear overwhelm him. There were plenty of times he thought that this time, Neil might actually kill him when he beat him but while staring at this monster, it felt more final, that he was definitely going to die and he tried to keep himself from shaking.

The Demodog sprinted at him and he raised up the pipe to only be shoved to the side. Steve had started to head toward the building just to check it out before the Demodog screeched and was glad he did because he was barely close enough to help Billy. He swung the bat hard at the Demodog just as it pounced and the monster fell to the ground with a pained sound. “Get out of here!” he yelled at Billy not giving the Demodog a chance as he went over to it and began to swing the bat down on top of it, aiming only for the head.

Billy was taken aback to have somebody there let alone Steve Harrington. His body wouldn’t move right away until he heard Max. “Billy!” she yelled at him motioning for him to leave the building. Billy’s body finally began to move when he saw her and the pain in his back was more evident as he stood up. The loud wet crunching sounds coming from Steve making sure he killed the Demodog helped motivate his body to move faster. He noticed the other two boys with Max and wanted to be angry about her running off like she did but he also couldn’t ignore how relieved he was that someone showed up. The night was definitely catching up to him at this point and the adrenaline of crashing and being attacked left his body as soon as he walked out of the building. “Are you okay?” asked Max, still worried about him even if he was an asshole.

”Yeah but, what the hell are you doing with these idiots? And what the hell was that?!” he snapped feeling his anger come back in full swing. It really didn’t help that anger was the only emotion he used for dealing with stress and having a bad day.

”A Demodog.” answered Dustin seeing no reason to hide what was going on since he was nearly eaten.

Billy’s eyes narrowed as he turned to Dustin. “Did I ask you?”

”Leave him alone.” piped up Steve who finally walked out of the building after being fully satisfied that the Demodog died. Steve stood behind Billy with the bat over his shoulder and a hand on his hip. The bat was only bloody since he did his best to get the few chunks that got stuck to it knocked off while making his way out of the building. “At least everyone is safe now.”

”Safe? Max shouldn’t even be out here let alone with you, Steve Harrington.” pointed out Billy still feeling the anger at the pit of his stomach but when his eyes strayed over the bat, he was forced to remember how Steve ran into trouble to help him. It bothered him knowing that the old King of Hawkins would put his own life in danger for someone he barely knew and someone that teased and messed with him. He didn’t like it since he was used to people staying assholes once they became one and nobody being kind to him.

Steve rolled his eyes and pointed at the Camaro with his bat. “Can it still drive?”

”I’m not fucking letting you drive.” he glared at Steve.

”Billy, you should just go home.” urged Max not wanting him to stay out here when she knew there were several more of those Demodogs, they just didn’t know exactly where they were at the moment.

”You don’t get to tell me what to do.” snapped Billy. “If I’m going home, you’re coming with me. Neil and Susan want you home.”

Max’s expression softened a bit when Billy mentioned Neil since that would be the only explanation as to why Billy was out looking for her in the first place. “I can’t leave my friends right now.”

Billy grit his teeth and sighed heavily. “Then I’m not going home either.”

”Then if your car starts up, can we use it?” asked Steve not in the mood to fight with anyone unless they were from the Upside Down. They had to make sure that wherever the Demodogs went that the people were safe.

”So you can keep playing the big hero?” asked Billy, stepping into Steve’s personal space and licking his bottom lip with a wide smile. “I don’t owe you anything for what you did and I’m not letting you drive my car.”

Steve set his hand on Billy’s chest and slowly pushed him away. “I’m not asking for anything in return and if you don’t want to come with us I can always continue on foot.” he shrugged walking around Billy to continue heading in the direction that they were going before coming to help Billy. Dustin and Lucas quickly followed after Steve and when Max tried to follow, Billy put his hand out to stop her.

Max glared at Billy shoving at his arm. “I’m going to help them.”

”No you’re not, we’re going home. If they want to be the suicidal heroes then let them go.” he explained not seeing any reason to put himself in danger.

”Yeah and if it wasn’t for Steve, you’d be dead, I’d be dead. There are more of those things and at least they want to do something about it.” she snapped moving around him so she could get by to run after the group.

Billy growled in frustration and got back into his car so he could try starting it up. When the engine purred to life on the first try he was grateful that he didn’t total it. He grabbed the steering wheel and threw it in reverse so he could turn around and go home. His grip on the steering wheel tightened as his mind replayed being attacked by the Demodog and how easily Steve jumped in to help. There was a lot about himself that he tried to hide and ignore but how Steve got under his damn skin without even talking to him was one of those things. Everything he heard about Steve from Tommy before he went ‘bitch’ sounded exactly like the type of person he liked to knock down a few pegs and the more he saw Steve around the school and played basketball with he wasn’t anything like he expected. It shouldn’t have been such a huge difference so it made him wonder if how Steve acted before was a lie. He remembered how Steve’s back arched as he swung the bat, how he listened to his advice about planting his feet and how good he looked holding that bat over his shoulder with more confidence than he had on the court. Billy looked down the road where the group headed and as much as he liked to stir up trouble and fights, he would have never done anything this stupid before. Yet, he hated the idea of them running into a larger group with only Steve and his bat for a weapon. Fuck, he wasn’t okay with the idea of Max willingly walking into danger. The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized that his worry also extended to Steve as well.

”I think the Demodogs went to the lab.” pointed out Lucas definitely finding the area familiar the farther they got away from the junkyard.

”Fantastic, there’s no way we can get in there or help out.” groaned Dustin having a bad feeling that by the time they get there, everyone would be dead.

Steve hadn’t been to the lab himself since the people who came to talk to him about keeping quiet visited his house. All he knew about the lab was that it was big and the people inside weren’t to be trusted easily. He heard the sound of a car getting closer and the group stopped as they turned to see who it was. Billy pulled up next to them with his window down trying to convince himself that he was only there because of his worry for Max. The other two little shits didn’t matter and especially Steve. “Get in Pretty Boy.” he ordered mentally cursing himself when he didn’t even tell Max to get in.

”Thanks?” he asked, noticing how the kids were more than ready to get into the vehicle before him and he climbed in after they were all settled down in the back. “Why are you helping us?”

”I might have just found out that monsters exist but I’m not about to back down from a fight.” he answered pointing down the road. “Just keep heading this way?”

Steve nodded looking back at the kids once more to make sure they buckled up before focusing on Billy. “Are you sure you weren’t worried about us?”

Billy glanced over at Steve shaking his head, “Max yes, the rest of you, never.”

”Sure you’re not.” chuckled Steve as he rolled down his window so he could listen for any more sounds of the Demodogs.

Billy looked back in his rearview mirror not missing how Max was staring right back at him like she could figure out what was going on inside of his head. He rolled his eyes and kept his attention on the road as he tried to figure out what was going on in his head himself. There was no way he would outright say he was worried about anyone but Max even as he felt slightly more at ease with Steve in the passenger seat. All of that can be ignored later when they weren’t chasing down monsters.


End file.
